Power Holds Off Rahal In Race 1 At Belle Isle

Will Power drove flawlessly over the final 10 laps in Detroit on Saturday. (File photo courtesy of INDYCAR)

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Will Power barely held off Graham Rahal over the final laps at the Belle Isle road course on Saturday to get the victory in the first of two weekend Verizon IndyCar Series races in Detroit.

The series will race again at Belle Isle on Sunday.

Power took over the lead with 10 to go in the race after leader Ryan Briscoe had to pit for fuel.

Rahal, on the same pit-stop strategy as Team Penske’s Power, stayed close over most of the remaining laps but never could get close enough to make a move for the lead.

“(Rahal) was really pushing me at the end and it was a great victory for Roger, the (crew) guys and Verizon,” said Power, whose 23rd Indy car victory tied Tommy Milton for 18th all time.

“I thought I was going to finally get the monkey off my back today,” Rahal, driving for Rahal/Letterman/Lanigan Racing, said. “I knew I had a car that was as quick as him (Power). I knew I had one opportunity and that was on the restart and he blocked me, which I would have done too, so I don’t blame him. On the last run we put on a charge, we caught him and then started to fade a little bit. I wasn’t sure what was going on but then all of a sudden it came to us and this National Guard car went right to the front. I’ve got to tell you, these National Guard guys did a phenomenal job.

“I said after Indy that this team was made up of champions and that it was going to come in time. Where were going to win one, we’re going to do it I can promise you that. One of these days we’re going to get that monkey off of our backs. I was focused on the task at hand and I knew I was one of the few guys who could drive by a lot of people today. So when I saw myself in 13th place after a bad run on the reds, I thought ‘This isn’t over. I can still pass these guys.’ And sure enough we went to the front. This is where our season started, right here today.”

Both races on the 2.36-mile, 13-turn street circuit carry full points. Power moved to three points of front-runner Ryan Hunter-Reay in the championship standings. Castroneves is 31 points behind Power, his Team Penske teammate.

Tony Kanaan of Team Penske finished third.

Fourth was Justin Wilson, who started 19th, of Dale Coyne Racing.

“That was a crazy race – we started 19th and saved fuel and managed to leapfrog up after we did an early pit stop,” said Wilson. “We cycled from the back up to the front, and then to the back and then up to the front. I said to Michael (Cannon, engineer) ‘are you sure this is what we want to do?’ and he said ‘yes this is our plan’ so I thought okay I’ll go with it. He did a great job. Everyone on the Boy Scouts of America team did fantastic pit stops.”

Qualifying for Dual 2 at Belle Isle will take place from 10:00-10:30 a.m. ET on Sunday. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com. The Chevrolet Dual in Detroit – Race 2 — will air on ABC on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET

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Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans

Results Saturday of the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans Verizon IndyCar Series event on the 2.35-mile Detroit Belle Isle, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):